Text Size

-

+

reset

Though aides say no decision has been made, House Democratic leaders are strategizing on when to deploy what’s known as a discharge petition, which would have to garner a majority of lawmakers’ signatures to force immigration legislation onto the House floor for a vote.

Advocates of the gambit are aiming to increase the pressure on Republicans who have so far resisted moving on reform this year. But the pro-reform coalition is split over the timing of the discharge effort — with some urging lawmakers to take it up immediately and others advising them to hold off.

One thing is certain, however: House Democrats won’t try to advance the Senate’s comprehensive immigration overhaul. Their version essentially mirrors the Senate bill with a pathway to citizenship for the nation’s undocumented immigrants, but the House Democratic bid scales back the Senate’s border-security provisions.

“I think it’s likely to happen,” a Democratic leadership aide said of the discharge petition effort. “I think people just want to make sure the groups are in the right place.”

Even if they do forge ahead, there is no illusion among Democrats that such an effort would succeed. A discharge petition needs 218 signatures — the majority of the full House — to succeed. If all 199 sitting Democrats sign on — far from guaranteed — that means petition backers have the herculean task of swaying 19 Republicans to join their effort.

Democrats and advocates are banking on the tactic creating yet another way for lawmakers, activists and voters to compel Republicans to act — particularly those more amenable to immigration reform. One source close to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), who endorsed the strategy recently, laid out his thinking: Put enough pressure on key House Republicans that they turn to their own leadership to urge them to move on immigration — even if a discharge petition fails to get the appropriate number of signatures. Schumer is hoping for a discharge effort sometime before May.

“Ultimately, a discharge petition may not be the tool that causes the Republican leadership to let the majority vote, but it increases the pressure, which is what we need,” Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) said.

The discharge petition option has been on lawmakers’ and immigration advocates’ minds ever since the Democratic-led Senate passed a comprehensive reform bill with 68 votes last June. But most people felt the maneuver was premature and wanted to give House Republicans some space to craft principles and release legislation.

But Schumer threw a curve ball into that plan when earlier this month he urged House Democrats to circulate a petition, saying that a “minority faction has scared Republicans” out of forging ahead on reform.

Fellow Gang of Eight member Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is highly doubtful such a maneuver would succeed.

The House GOP leadership did introduce broad “principles” for an overhaul earlier this year, but Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has largely hit the brakes, decrying how “difficult” it would be to pass any immigration bill this year.

Only three House Republicans have co-sponsored a comprehensive House Democratic immigration bill that is largely the Senate’s version, minus controversial border-security provisions that have turned off border-state Democrats. And for a Republican to sign a discharge petition circulated by the Democrats in the minority would be a significant public rebuke of Boehner and his leadership team.

For now, though, advocates are divided on when to proceed with the pressure tactic.

Angela Kelley, the vice president of immigration policy for the Center for American Progress, speculated that something could come perhaps after key primary filing deadlines pass. She said the time for a discharge petition wasn’t yet ripe.